Garfield County Commission Chair Tom Jankovsky put Democratic Commissioner-elect Jonathan Godes on the spot at Monday’s Garfield County Commissioner (BOCC) meeting. 

“I want to acknowledge that you are our next county commissioner that is going to be sitting in my position,” Jankovsky said.

Godes won the race for Jankovsky’s seat on Nov. 3 against Republican candidate Eric Rudd. Jankovsky won his seat in 2010 against Democrat Trési Houpt, who had served since 2002. 

“Welcome to the Board of Garfield County Commissioners,” said Jankovsky, offering a congratulatory handshake to Godes, who was sitting in the audience. 

“Nobody can really understand what it’s like to run for a political office until you’ve actually done it, and the local politics can really be strenuous,” added Jankovsky. “You make somebody happy, you make somebody not happy, and that’s just the nature of the beast.” 

Jankovsky then offered Godes time to speak. After thanking his supporters and the BOCC, Godes said he looks forward to working with everyone. 

“This whole community is looking to you guys, and will at some point be looking to me as one of you three, to help guide them through tough times, tough decisions, budget decisions, political decisions, library, transportation — the list goes on and on,” he said. “I look forward to getting to know staff, getting to know department heads. And you don’t need to hear a whole lot more from me because you got four years of probably hearing enough from me. So I’ll leave it at that.”

Library board
Moving on to the agenda, the BOCC appointed two new library trustees based on interviews from Nov. 3 and the library board’s recommendations. Despite commending former Library District Director Jamie LaRue on his knowledge and experience, the BOCC did not appoint LaRue. 

“Jamie, your interview was great,” said Commissioner Perry Will, echoing Commissioner Mike Samson’s remarks. “But, in my opinion, being such a short time out of being director, I don’t think that makes much sense to be on the board.” 

Commissioners voted unanimously to appoint Tela Forehand as the representative of the greater Silt area. Forehand is the daughter of Robin Robinson, a Silt business owner who has been a vocal opponent of the Manga books at the Silt Library and has made statements against the Equal Rights Amendment. 

Robinson commented at the start of Monday’s meeting that re-appointing John Malonee would be playing into “groupthink” since there are other lawyers on the library board. “And one of them gets paid quite well to be the lawyer for a Marxist organization,” she said, naming neither the lawyer nor the organization. 

Garfield County Republicans also put out an emailed call-to-action letter on Nov. 6 for constituents to sign, urging the BOCC to appoint Caleb Waller to the at-large seat and Tela Forehand to the Silt seat. Waller did not apply for the at-large seat. 

Commissioners and the library board selected Malonee, the current board treasurer, for his second term as the at-large trustee.

GarCo School of Innovation
Then, the commissioners tackled a request from Judy and Barry Brannberg to lease a building at 949 Railroad Avenue in Rifle from the county for the Garfield County School of Innovation. 

County Manager Fred Jarman told the BOCC that the property is the old NAPA building and has some “significant challenges,” including water damage from a leaky roof, saturated insulation, possible asbestos in the ceiling and floor tiles and a cracked foundation. Jarman added that it is not up to standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said that the county’s intention for the property is to raze the building and add the land to the County Fairgrounds campus. After much discussion, the BOCC denied the request.

The Brannbergs founded the STEM School Highlands Ranch charter school in the Douglas County School District (DCSD) in 2009. The school opened in 2011. The Brannbergs left the school in 2013 for reasons unknown and leadership changed hands. At the time, the Brannbergs signed a confidential separation agreement with the DCSD. 

In 2019, the STEM School Highlands Ranch was the site of a deadly school shooting. Judy Brannberg filed suit in Colorado District Court stating that she had warned DCSD about failures in school leadership beginning in 2014, and that those warnings were ignored. 

In 2023, the Brannbergs tried to open 12 more charter schools on the Front Range; all applications were denied. She filed nine lawsuits beginning that year, including litigation under the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), against the DCSD and others, connected to an alleged breach of the confidential separation agreement. Claims included domestic terrorism, blackmail and extortion, bribery of a public official, conspiracy and more. The Colorado Court of Appeals denied the RICO case on Nov. 5. Judy Brannberg has represented herself in most cases.

South Bridge

County Attorney Heather Beattie told the BOCC that Garfield County District Court Judge Maker could decide on the preliminary injunction to halt South Bridge construction on county land by the end of November.